President Donald Trump’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion helped prompt a plunge in shareholder resolutions from progressive investors that typically push companies on social reform.
Motions filed by groups in favor of environmental, social and governance policies dropped 34% from a year ago to 355 ahead of this year’s annual meeting season, according to a new report Thursday.
At the same time, anti-DEI proposals, which are considered part of ESG, surged. Alliance Defending Freedom, which leads one of the most active conservative investor groups, said its coalition submitted 70 proposals this year, up from 28 in 2024.
As companies try to comply with the president’s push to root out DEI from US contractors and other private businesses, shareholders are trying to “help them through this difficult period,” said Andrew Behar, chief executive officer of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow.
“We have tempered down some of our asks,” Behar said, noting that his group filed 58 resolutions this year, down from 99 last year. As You Sow released Thursday’s report with Proxy Impact, a shareholder engagement and proxy voting services provider.
Activists have for decades used the annual meeting season to ask investors to support reform of corporate governance, pay, climate, diversity and other social issues. More recently, conservative groups have flooded such meetings with their own proposals to counter those campaigns.
Although support for social issues has fallen since 2021, anti-ESG and anti-DEI motions have historically received only about 2% of shareholder votes.
As well as the Trump administration’s assault on DEI, pro-ESG groups were hampered this year by new guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Commission that made it more difficult to win approval for some resolutions to be put to a shareholder vote, Behar said.
Companies have also sought more engagement with activists this year in an effort to keep DEI-related issues off the proxy ballot given the new administration’s sharp focus on those policies.
Still, some pro-DEI proposals are continuing to garner support. A motion for a racial audit at Deere & Co. filed by activist John Chevedden won the backing of 30% of shareholders at its meeting in February. Deere, the world’s top farm machinery maker, in July said it would pull back from diversity measures after its policies were attacked by anti-DEI influencer Robby Starbuck.
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